


Stygian Iron Alchemist

by Erikthonius



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:02:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28206546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erikthonius/pseuds/Erikthonius
Summary: Nico Elric and his sister are young alchemists who struggle to regain what they lost when they tried to resurrect their mother.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19





	1. The Priest

**Author's Note:**

> I'm trying this again. This time I'm going to follow the original manga rather than Brotherhood or the 2005 anime. We'll see how far I get this time.

The sun was blazing down onto the square. In spite of the heat, Nico kept his red cloak on. It was the best way to hide the black of his Stygian iron automail arm. The heat was fierce, but he could bear it. At least Bianca wasn’t suffering from the heat in spite of her immense bulk. More than one person had asked her how she could stand to wear the black suit of armor in the blazing sun, but she just told them that she had to, because of her alchemic training, and it really didn’t bother her that much. Nico knew the truth, though. She didn’t feel the heat, because there was no body inside the armor, just her soul, bonded to the metal itself. Somehow, he had a gift when it came to working alchemy on Stygian iron, and he was able to pull her soul back when her body was taken.

Nico wasn’t thinking about the heat at this moment; what he was doing was cursing his commander.

“Stupid Colonel Mustang, sending us out into this gods forsaken town in the middle of nowhere. Investigate this town, Laore, he says. See what you can find. Stupid, smug Colonel Perseus Mustang! What kind of name is Perseus, anyway?” 

At any rate, he was thirsty from the train ride out to Laore, so he headed for a stall that seemed to be selling refreshments. There was a radio in the stall, and a voice coming from the radio was making some kind of religious pronouncements.

“Citizens of Laore!” the voice boomed out. “The sun god, Apollo, has bestowed his blessings upon you in the form of me, Father Octavian. Flock to me and behold his miracles, my children.”

“Who is that?” Nico asked.

“I was going to ask you the same question, strangers,” the man behind the counter said in a friendly tone. “Are you street performers?”

Nico looked at the man. The look he shot back was less than friendly. “Do we look like street performers?”

The man smiled at them. “Well, yes you do. You, in that enormous suit of armor,” he pointed at Bianca, “and you wearing gloves and a full cloak in this desert heat.”

Bianca was less prone to anger, so she took over the conversation. “No, we’re just looking for something. And who was that on the radio?”

The man’s eyes widened in surprise. “You really must not be from around here if you don’t know who father Octavian is.”

Some of the other men gathered around the drinks stall joined in the conversation.

“Father Octavian is the emissary of the sun god, Apollo,” the first one put in.

“He came to our town to teach us about Apollo and show us the path of righteousness. He keeps us from the darkness of the Graecae and works miracles,” a second man said.

“What are Graecae?” Nico asked.

They all just shrugged at this.

Nico continued, “What about those miracles of his?”

“They’re amazing. With a wave of his hand, he made flowers appear out of nowhere. He pointed at my own children's teddy bears, and the toys sprang to life and began a fight to the death, ripping each other apart,” a third man said, awe in his voice.

“Too bad for the bears,” Nico smirked, but he wondered about this. Alchemy could do some of this, but bringing inanimate objects to life? This needed to be looked into.

A small child called out to Bianca. “Aren’t you hot in all that black armor?”

As she turned to answer, the plume on her helmet caught on the radio, knocking it off the shelf (she still wasn’t used to this enormous form sometimes), and the radio fell to the ground, smashing it to bits.

As the stall owner looked on in dismay, Bianca said, “I’m so sorry. Here. let me repair it.”

The poor man shook his head mournfully. “I don’t see how you can. It’s in a thousand pieces.”

Nico grinned. “Watch and be amazed.”

Bianca knelt down, sketching a circle with the appropriate symbols around the fragments of the rado. By now a small crowd of onlookers had gathered to watch in curiosity at these two strangers. Next, Bianca placed her palms down on the edge of the circle, concentrating as she drew on the alchemical energy of the earth. She and her brother found that the earth’s energies were the easiest for them to draw upon. There was a flash, and then there was the radio, as good as new. She replaced it on the shelf, turned it on, and the sound came out, much clearer than it had before.

There were gasps from the crowd. “She’s a miracle worker!” “First Father Octavian, now this! Truly we are blessed!" “Do we have more blessings than before?”

Nico sensed a change in the crowd that could spin out of control if it ran wild, so he put up his hands. “No miracles here, just good old fashioned alchemy. Any alchemist worth his salt could do it.”

That seemed to calm the crowd. Sure enough one old man said, “Yeah, I’ve seen alchemy before. But you seem to be so young.”

By now a crowd had gathered, drawn by the flash from the alchemical reaction. A girl with pink streaks in her hair was pushing her way through the crowd. As she came up to the counter, the men gathered around called out a greeting.

“Hey Gwen! Come here to pick up our offering to the temple?” the stall owner said to her.

“You bet,” the girl replied with a smile. “The Fifth Precinct has to maintain its reputation for generosity.”

The stall owner handed a large bundle over the counter to Gwen, who accepted it with “Apollo’s blessings on you.” Then she headed up the street.

As she walked away, the gathered men waved to her, fond looks on their faces. “It’s good to see Gwen smiling again,” one of them said.

Bianca, ever tender hearted, leaned forward, making an inquiring noise.

“We were afraid that she’d never smile again,” he continued. “When Father Octavian first came to town, there was an accident. Her boyfriend, a fellow named Dakota, well he was killed, and we almost lost our Gwendolyn. It was the first miracle. He brought her back from the brink of death, and then he said he could raise her boyfriend from the dead if only she believed enough.”

Nico became interested when he heard that. “Hey, Bianca, maybe we should meet this Octavian.”

Hearing this, the stall owner pointed to the tall building across the square. “He’ll be in the church. I’m sure Father Octavian would welcome the chance to save you two from the snares of the Graecae. If you ask Gwen, I’m sure she’ll be happy to introduce you to the Father.”

The two alchemists needed no further prompting and headed to the church. By the time they arrived, Gwen was coming out of an office. Speaking to her was a pale, thin man with blond hair and blue eyes. For a moment, the eye and hair color made Nico think of Will, almost as if they were related, but the blond hair was faded, like it had been washed too many times, and the eyes had a slightly crazed look to them. Nevertheless, this man had a look of authority to him, and his tone was patronizing.

“Gwen, my child, you must have patience. You know that when the time is right, Apollo will bring your boyfriend back from the grave.” As he finished speaking, the man turned and went back into the office, closing the door behind him.

Nico couldn’t keep a soft snort from issuing at those words, though. Gwen approached him, smiling, though.

“So, strangers,” she said, “have you come to hear the gospel of Apollo and be saved?”

Nico replied, “Sorry, but I’m not religious.”

Gwen was not put off by this. “That’s not a real answer. If you believe in the gods, you can live in hope and gratitude every day.”

“So you believe the dead can come back to life?”

“I do.”

Nico closed his eyes and recited from memory. “Water, carbon, ammonia, lime, phosphorus, salt, sulphur, saltpeter, iron, and other elements in trace quantities.”

Gwen stared at him uncomprehendingly, so he continued.

“That’s the composition of the human body. Science has known that for centuries, but there’s never been a single successful case of human transmutation. Now some people think that makes science a lost cause, but I think it’s better than sitting around praying and waiting for something to happen. The funny thing is, all those ingredients I listed, you can buy them in any market for a child’s allowance. If gods made humans, they made us on the cheap.”

By now, they could hear a commotion coming from the courtyard. It was Octavian’s voice, loud and, in Nico’s opinion, pompous, followed by a loud booming (the sound of large transmutations, something the Elrics were quite familiar with) and then the sound of cheering. Nico ran to the window to see what was happening, Bianca and Gwen close behind him.

As they watched, Octavian plucked a flower from a vase at his feet. He shouted something along the lines of “Behold the might of Apollo,” (it was hard to tell over the noise of the crowd around him), and then closed his hand over the bloom. Then he cast his arm up and opened his fist. There was a flash and a boom, and a shower of rose petals fell from the sky. The crowd cheered.

Next, two people at the front of the crowd thrust their children forward. The two children presented Octavian with their toy bears. (The toddlers didn’t look entirely pleased to surrender their toys.) Octavian grabbed the plush bears by their heads and flung them into the air behind him. Another flash and boom, and the bears had grown to ten feet in height and began to dance around in a clumsy lumbering fashion. The children, looking a bit terrified, fled back to their parents, but the crowd again cheered.

“Now do you believe?” Gwendolyn asked triumphantly.

“I believe that was some impressive alchemy,” Nico replied, “but he seems to be getting around the law of equivalent exchange.”

“I noticed that glint on his finger,” Bianca pointed out. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I’m thinking I’d really like to meet this Father Octavian. Gwen, could you help us out?” Nico asked as sweetly as he could. Bianca wasn’t fooled in the least by this act, but Gwen, not having followed the brief exchange, looked delighted.

=====  
Seated at his desk, Father Octavian looked up at his attendant. “What is it, Brother Lawrence?”

“Visitors, sir. A boy and a woman in a suit of armor. They say their name is Elric.”

Octavian grew alarmed. “Elric? That must be Nico Elric, the Stygian Iron Alchemist.”

Brother Lawrence looked shocked. “How can that be? He’s just a child.”

“Fool,” said Octavian, “he’s the youngest state alchemist on record. He got his title when he was only 12. It seems the dogs of the military have good noses.”

“Shall I get rid of them?” Father Lawrence asked, a trifle too eagerly.

“I think I’d better oversee this one, Bryce. Your methods are effective enough, but sometimes your enthusiasm makes you a little sloppy. Show them in, but be careful.” With that, Octavian retired to his inner sanctum.

Brother Lawrence opened the doors and gestured for Gwen and the Elrics to enter. Nico stepped forward.

“We don’t want to take too much of your time,” he said.

Brother Lawrence stepped in front of him. From under his robe, he produced what looked like a short javelin. He held it in his left hand and pointed it at Nico’s chest. With his right hand, he pulled out a pistol and fired it at Bianca’s head. The suit of armor fell backward, the helmet flying into the air and landing at Nico’s feet. Gwen shrank back in horror, crying out, “Brother Lawrence, what have you done?”

“I’m merely carrying out the will of Apollo,” he replied smugly. “These heathens have come to entrap his holiness with their Graecus wiles.” Then he brought the pistol over to point at Nico’s chest. Before the priest could do anything, though, the headless suit of armor had risen from the ground and seized the pistol in its black iron gauntlet. That still left the javelin in his other hand, but by now, Nico had grabbed his sister’s helmet by the plume and swung it against the luckless priest’s head, causing him to crumple to the ground, unconscious.

“Hey!” Bianca’s voice issued from the helmet. “That’s my head you’re swinging.”

Gwen gaped into the empty suit of armor. “What is this?” she whimpered in a frightened voice.

Bianca replied in a sad voice, “You might say that is what happens when you trespass in the realm of the gods.”

Nico cut his sister off. “That’s a story for another time. I’m going to have a word with Father Octavian. Gwen, do you have the courage to face the truth?”

=====

Octavian leaned against the pulpit, looking down into the arena. Surely that fool Lawrence had taken care of the intruders. Too bad about Gwen though. She was such a tractable little thing. His musings were cut off when the door below him flew open and those two Elric brats burst in.

Octavian was seething at his incompetant assistant. Couldn’t the fool take care of two children? Nevertheless, he kept his cool.

“Welcome to the Church of the Sun God, Apollo. Have you come to learn his holy ways from me?”

Nico looked up at him, a cold smile on his face. “There are some things I’d certainly like to learn from you. For starters, how you use your lame alchemy to deceive your followers.”

Octavian was unruffled. “Do not confuse my miracles with alchemy. If you saw for yourself, surely you’d be convinced.”

“Yeah, I saw, alright. And at first I couldn’t figure out how you did those transmutations in violation of the rules of alchemy. Then it came to me. You’ve got a philosopher’s stone. That’s it in your ring, isn’t it?”

Octavian gave a short bark of a laugh. “I guess the military gets its money’s worth out of you. You’re right.” He raised his hand to brandish the ring with the blood red stone. “It is the philosopher’s stone. With it, I can get the maximum result with the minimum cost.”

“And what do you use the stone for? Is it money? You could make all the Imperial gold you want with it.”

Octavian snorted derisively at Nico. ‘Money? Hah! I get all the money I want just from the donations of my flock. What I really need is followers who would happily give their lives for me. Within a few years, I’ll have enough followers to take over all of Amestris. Think about it! An invincible army of fanatics with no fear of death.”

“Hmph.” Nico rolled his eyes. “Tell you what. Give me the stone, and I won’t expose the scam you’ve been pulling on everybody.”

“Fool! Why should they believe you? The people of this town love me. They think my words come directly from Apollo. No-one will listen to you. These idiots will believe anything I tell them. I’ve completely fooled them.”

Nico applauded softly. “Wow! You really are smart. Thank you for telling me how you do it. You’re right. Your followers won’t believe me.” 

He reached over and opened Bianca’s chest plate to reveal Gwen hiding inside. “But what about her?”

Gwen looked at the priest with wide eyes as she climbed out of the suit of armor. “Is it true? Were you fooling us the whole time? You can’t bring Dakota back?” Her voice trembled on the last sentence.

Octavian narrowed his eyes, a look of cunning on his face. “I may not be Apollo’s emissary. But with the stone, I can resurrect him.”

He could see the wavering in the girl’s face, so he pressed on. “Think about it, darling. I’m the only one that can grant your wish.”

Her will crumbled at that. With tears in her eyes, she faced the Elrics and said, “I’m sorry, but this is the only choice I can make,” and she turned away, not willing to look at their eyes any more as she walked toward the priest with slumped shoulders.

Sympathy dripped from the priest’s voice. “She really is a good girl.” Then, his voice hardened. “And now, we really must eradicate this Graecus scum.”

“Brother, what’s a Graecus?” Bianca asked. Nico just shrugged.

Octavian gestured at the floor, and it turned to sand. “You won’t be able to draw a transmutation circle in this,” he crowed. “Now meet one of the pets my ring made for me.”

From the shadows, a growl issued. 

“How do you like my manticore? It really is amazing what i can create with this ring.” Octavian looked at Nico and Bianca eagerly as the creature emerged from the shadows, a misshapen nightmare of a lion with a human face and a scorpion’s tail.

Nico clapped his hands together and then placed his palms on the sand. A sword rose up into his hands, and he used it to lop off the tail before it could sting him. “Insufferable brrrat!” the monster cried out in a harsh, metallic voice. Then it gave a swipe of its claws, and the sword fell to the ground in pieces. It then raked its claws savagely against Nico’s left leg.

Gwen gasped in horror as Octavian called out, “My pet’s claws can cut through steel. I can only imagine what it did to your leg.”

Nico just laughed as his tattered pant leg fell away to reveal his black iron automail leg. The manticore, however, roared in pain, its claw shattered and its paw bleeding.

“You’ll have to do better than that. This is a custom job, specially reinforced.”

The manticore, enraged by the taunt, roared in fury to reveal immense fangs, which it used to clamp onto Nico’s right arm. This proved even more useless than the swipe to his leg, as he pulled his undamaged automail arm free amid a shower of broken manticore teeth.

“What’s the matter, kitty? Doesn’t taste good?” He took advantage of the chimera’s surprise to land a blow to its head, and the monster collapsed onto the sand. Then he turned to Gwen, all the humor gone from his face.

“Take a good look, Gwen.” Nico removed the tatters of his shredded sleeve and pant leg to reveal the stark black of his Stygian iron automail. “This is what happens when you use alchemy on human life.”

Octavian eyed the boy standing before him, taking in his automail prosthetics. “So, this is why they call you the Stygian Iron Alchemist.”

“That’s right. Now come down here and face me, you fraud.”

Octavian didn’t move from his pulpit. He looked down at them sneering. “I wondered,” he sneered, “how a little brat like you could earn such a fearsome title. Now I see. Look at them, Gwendolyn. They dared to do the one thing absolutely forbidden to alchemists. Like the alchemist in the legends who made wings out of wax and dared to fly too close to the sun.”

Gwen choked out, “His wings melted, and he fell into the sea.”


	2. The Price of a Life

“We just wanted to see her smile again.”

Bianca’s voice rang out plaintively from the suit of armor as she recalled that fateful night.

“We knew we were breaking the first law of alchemy, but we were two kids who’d just lost our mother, and we wanted her back.” She continued, her voice full of sadness. “Our formulas were perfect, but...but, the resurrection failed. When it failed, my brother lost his leg. But I, I lost my entire body. I lost consciousness for a while. When I came to, I saw Nico lying there in a pool of blood. He looked so much smaller than he had before. I looked down at myself and saw this armor body. He tried to smile at me, even though he was in so much pain. He just said, ‘All I could get for this arm was your soul.’ Even after the agony of losing his leg, he exchanged his right arm for my soul and bound it to this suit of armor.”

Nico looked at Gwen, his eyes so hard as he said, “The two of us tried to resurrect one person, and this is what happened. Are you willing to make that sacrifice?”

Octavian just looked down at them and laughed. “So, that’s why you fools want the stone, to be able to transmute humans.”

Nico returned the look without fear. “We just want to try to get our bodies back. Now give us the stone, and you won’t get hurt.”

“You fools are the ones who tried to get too close to the gods,” Octavian said and touched the stone to his cane, transforming it to a machine gun. “Now I’ll see to it that you meet them permanently,” and he opened fire on the Elrics. 

But to his surprise and annoyance, when the smoke from the rain of bullets cleared, an enormous stone wall had arisen, no doubt more of their alchemy, and shielded those annoying brats. By now they were running for the exit, Bianca carrying Gwen in her arms.

“Stop them, you fools!” Octavian shouted. The guards were intimidated by the hulking armored figure, but the slight boy in tattered clothes didn’t present such a frightening figure and was promptly seized. 

“Secure his arms! Throw him into the dungeon. I’ll deal with him in the morning.” Octavian strode off, looking smug.  
“Oh no,” Nico said, hoping that these idiots couldn’t understand the mocking irony in his voice. “Not the dark, scary dungeon, full of shadows.” He still had a trick or two up his (rather shredded) sleeve.  
After his arms had been chained, they threw him into a cell. When he heard their footsteps receding down the corridor, Nico looked at the lengthening shadow in the far corner of the cell and stepped into it, leaving the chains behind. He emerged in a darkened alley, where Bianca was waiting. His sister always had a knack for knowing which shadow he’d step out of at times like this. Gwen was waiting with her  
“I have a plan,” he said. “I need you to set something up somewhere in the center of town.”  
“There’s an old bell tower there. The church there was abandoned when Father Octavian built the new church, because he said the old one wasn’t grand enough for Apollo, but the tower still rises above the other buildings there,” Gwen supplied.  
“Perfect. We’ll need to create a few electrical pieces.”  
There was a smile in Bianca’s voice even though the helmet of the suit of armor was incapable of showing expression. “It’s a good thing Teacher’s friend Leo taught us how to do this.”  
=====  
In the morning, Father Octavian headed to his office. He liked the office. It wasn’t too close to the church, so he could have some privacy, but the view of the bell tower and courtyard from his desk chair was nice. He was not pleased, however when he entered the room and saw the insolent youth lounging against his desk. Still, he kept his anger in check. Good to maintain control of the situation.  
“How did you get out of your cell?” he demanded. “How did you get in here?”  
Nico’s face assumed his usual smirk. “I tell you what, father. I’ll answer your questions if you answer a few of mine.”  
Octavian’s face changed to a bland smile. “Why not?” he thought. “You won’t live to tell anyone.” His left hand briefly touched the red stone on the ring on his right hand.  
“All right, my curious friend. If you must know, my credulous flock is going to make excellent cannon fodder. Those fools are already willing to lay down their lives for me, so when I’m ready to make my next move, my lambs will be ready for the slaughter.” His gloating mood made his tongue loose. “You give people a few cheap miracles, and you have an army of slaves.” He laughed at this, a touch of madness glinting in his pale, bloodshot eyes.  
“Now it’s your turn.” He gestured to Nico. “How did you get out.”  
“Oh, I’ll let you know that,” Nico said airily. “But there’s something else you should know first.”  
He moved aside to reveal a microphone on the desk. Then he gestured to the window now at Octavian’s back. The priest turned and looked out to see a large loudspeaker set up in the bell tower, with the large form of Bianca next to it. She waved and then pointed down to the courtyard below. The entire population of Laore was gathered, and they looked angry.  
“You! You!” Octavian sputtered. “How much did they hear?”  
“I’d say every word of it. I think your lambs might be ready to slaughter you.”  
The priest frothed with rage. He spun about, his elaborate robes swirling as he did. He pointed down with his right hand. His ring glowed and a catapult appeared, loaded with Imperial gold. He aimed the catapult at the bell tower and then swirled to face Nico. “I’ll kill your sister while you watch. Then I’ll kill you.”  
As he reached for the release lever on the catapult, Nico saw that Octavian’s robe had caught on the payload, but before Nico could say anything, Octavian pulled the lever, and the load flew through the window, dragging the screaming priest with it. The noise of his shrieks caught the attention of the crowd, so they scattered. To Nico’s relief, he saw Bianca duck into the shadow before the incendiary mass hit the tower and erupted in flames.  
The courtyard was still deserted a few minutes later as the siblings stepped out of the shadows to search the rubble.  
“Look, Nico, it’s his ring!” Bianca called out.  
Nico reached for the ring, but to his disappointment, the stone fell out of its setting, turning the color of mud as it fell. The mud colored blob seemed to melt, leaving nothing but a brief stench.  
“I guess it wasn’t a real Philosopher’s Stone after all,” Nico said, a touch of bitterness in his voice.”  
“Well, brother, I guess we have to report back to Colonel Mustang.” Their journey back was interrupted when Gwen stepped in front of them.  
“What do I do now?” There were tears in her eyes. “What am I supposed to believe in?”  
Nico’s voice was cold, but there was pity in his eyes as he and BIanca walked back into the desert. “You have two good legs. Stand up and walk.”


	3. The Vineyard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Alchemist, be thou for the people."

They were back on the train again. “Another fool’s errand for Colonel Mustang,” though Nico Stupid Colonel Mustang with his stupid green eyes. Why was he thinking about Percy Mustang’s eyes? At least this time, they weren’t out in the desert. He hated the desert. It was hot, the sun was too bright, and Bianca tended to fill up with sand.

As they rode, he read the Colonel’s report. Apparently there was some concern. Youswell was the heart of Amestrian wine production, and in addition to being a major source of income, the wines were useful in producing some fairly complex organic chemicals that bio-alchemists needed. Now, production was off, and there were rumblings of unrest.

Bianca was looking out the window as the train came to a stop. The area looked lovely. Youswell was one of the most fertile parts of Amestris. She couldn’t understand why the people she saw looked so downtrodden. In spite of the lush greenery, the whole place seemed run down. They got off the train and headed into town.

“First off,” said Bianca, let’s find a place to stay. I have a feeling this could take more than a day.”

“I hope they have something to eat,” Nico put in. “I’m starving. The food on the train was greasy and disgusting. I wouldn’t feed it to dead people! And that stupid toy they put in with it. What was that about?”

“I’m sorry you’re unhappy about your meal,” Bianca said.

“Hey!” a girl called out to them. “If you’re looking for food and lodging, my dad has a place just down the street.”

The Elrics looked at the girl. Her clothing was threadbare and patched, but it was clean, so they followed her.

When they arrived at a large building at the end of the block, the girl opened the door and shouted, “Dad!”

A large man in a patched apron called back, “What is it, Leila?”

“Customers.”

The man smiled and greeted the travelers. “Welcome, strangers. You need a place to stay, I take it.”

Nico sat at a table by the entrance with a sigh of relief. “Yes, and a meal if you have it.”

The large man stepped into a back room and came back with two steaming bowls of stew that made Nico’s stomach growl. When it was placed before him, he grabbed a spoon and took a mouthful. Around mouthfuls, he said, “Thanks, mister. This is really good.”

“Thank you, stranger. I’m Michael Kahale.”

Bianca, being incapable of eating, decided to take care of the business at hand. “How much for the meal and a night’s lodging, Mr. Kahale?”

He responded, “Call me Michael. It’s 200,000 drachma per night, meals included.”

Nico spat out the mouthful in shock. “200,000! That’s outrageous!”

Michael shook his head. “It’s the best deal you’ll get. We’re the only inn around, and we don’t get many guests. I have to make enough for taxes somehow.”

Nico had a travel allowance from his CO, but that amount would use almost all of his funds, and he didn’t want to have to wire Colonel Mustang for more. He took in the other people seated at tables around the room. All of them were wearing old, patched clothing, and a lot of them had bundles of farming implements, most of them old and in poor repair. He saw his chance.

“Maybe we can work out a trade. How about a room for the night and dinner if I fix your tools?”

The men were dubious, but Kahale nodded. Within a short while, the table was piled high with broken hoes and axes and worn out shears. Nico reached out for the worst of them, a pair rusted and twisted pruning shears. He clapped his hands together and then placed his palms on the shears. There was a flash of light and the shears were sitting on the table, gleaming bright and freshly sharpened.

That was all it took. Tools were handed to him and he repaired each one. With each flash of light, the crowd cheered. Nico warmed to the attention. He was enjoying it, so when Kahale said, “You’re an alchemist, aren’t you? What’s your name, son?” he responded with pride.

“I’m Nico Elric. Maybe you’ve heard of me. I’m also known as the Stygian Iron Alchemist.”

The room grew abruptly silent. Then Kahale spoke, all friendliness gone from his voice.

“You’re a state alchemist?”

Nico nodded, and the next thing he knew, he was flung out the door as the innkeeper shouted at him, “We don’t give food or lodging to dogs of the military!”

He heard Bianca’s voice calling out, “Wait! I’m only a civilian. I’m not a ‘state’ anything.”

“Traitor!” Nico muttered as he crashed into the dusty road.

=====

Inside the inn, Bianca asked the girl Leila, “So, you don’t like the military?”

“The whole town is under the thumb of Corporal Dionysus. He keeps raising the taxes, and when we can’t pay, he takes ownership of everything. Right now, our inn is the only piece of property he doesn’t have the title to. When we complain, his military goons just haul us off to prison.”

=====

Nico was sitting outside the inn, still hungry, when Bianca stepped out and produced a large bowl of stew from inside her chest cavity.

“Brother, I knew you didn’t get a full meal, so I snuck this out for you.”

“Bianca, my dear sister!” His previous cry of “Traitor” forgotten, he threw his arms around her for just a moment, and then fell to devouring the meal before him. As he ate, Bianca explained the reason that the military was hated so much. 

He had just finished eating when a trio of military men pushed both of them aside. The leader was short (though still taller than Nico) and porky. He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He and his aides strode into the inn. Nico and Bianca followed them, curious to see what would happen.

“Well, the place looks filthy as always,” the officer said, holding a handkerchief in front of his red nose as if the smell offended him.

“Corporal D, what brings you to our humble lodgings?” Kahale asked, keeping his voice level.

“Morton Callahan, you are late with your taxes for the last time,” the lieutenant simpered. 

“That’s Michael Kahale, you fool,” the innkeeper muttered.

“No matter. These,” the lieutenant brandished a sheaf of papers, “give me full ownership of this hovel. You will vacate the premises by tomorrow morning.”

Leila sprang up in rage, her fists aimed at Corporal D. “You can’t! I’ll…”

The lieutenant swiped his fist at her, knocking her back. Then he gestured to one of his aides. 

“Pollux, teach this whelp some manners.”

The man drew out a sword and prepared to strike the girl with it, but the blow was stopped when the sword struck Nico’s upraised arm and fell to pieces.

“It shattered! How did he do that?” the soldier asked in surprise.

“Who the hell are you?” Corporal D demanded.

Instead of answering right away, Nico reached inside his collar and pulled out a leather thong with some beads hung from it. The corporal’s eyes widened when he saw the design on the beads. “The president’s seal! This is a state alchemist. I can make some good connections with this runt,” he thought to himself.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” the corporal said in a more placating tone. “I am Corporal Bacchus Dionysus, but you can call me Mr. D.” His voice was oily as he sidled up to Nico. “If you need a place for the night, there’s no need for you to stay in this pig-pen” (Kahale bridled at that.) “Come back to my estate, and I’ll show you proper hospitality.

“Why thank you, Mr. D. I’m Nico Elric, but you can call me the Stygian Iron Alchemist. I’d be delighted.”

And he walked out with the soldiers, ignoring the glares of the locals.

=====

The meal Nico received at Mr. D’s manor was far more lavish than what the inn had to offer. In addition, there were plenty of the finest wines from the Youswell vineyards, although he noticed that the corporal only drank from his own decanter.

“Mr. D,” Nico said, “I can’t help but notice that you seem to be doing alright.”

“Thank you,” the man simpered. “One does one’s best. It certainly hasn’t been easy living among these brutes. I’ve done my best to make sure that they pay their fair share in taxes, for the good of the country, of course, but these ingrates just don’t want to support the military as they should.”

“Support the military,” Nico thought, “more like make you rich while they slave here.” He also noticed that his own wineglass was being refilled as fast as he drank, and after the first sip, he knew that what he was given was quite strong. No problem, a few symbols drawn on the side of the glass in a finger dipped into the dark red wine, and he was able to transmute the beverage into nothing more potent than colored water.

“Would you be interested in a game or two of pinochle?” Mr. D asked after the meal (but not the wine) was cleared. 

Nico nodded, and as the other man left the table to get the cards, he examined Mr. D’s private decanter. Just as he thought, while trying to get Nico drunk, this corporal was drinking the same colored water that Nico had changed his own wine to. Well, two could play at that. He drew symbols on the base of the decanter, and whatever liquid was put into it would become more alcoholic with each refill.

Halfway through the first game, Nico proposed that they play for money, just to make it interesting, he said. He liked the way Mr. D’s eyes lit up at that and the way he drained his goblet eagerly, urging Nico to do the same.

Nico made sure to keep losing, but only small amounts. Midway through the night, he produced a stack of papers and moved them toward the corporal.

“Sorry,” he said, affecting a slight slurring of his words. “I’ll need your signatures on these, It’s my reports, You understand…”

“Of course, of course,” Mr. D. replied, not noticing how truly slurred his own words were. He signed the papers readily, thinking to himself that he’d have his aides go through the alchemist’s papers the next morning and remove the forms if they didn’t portray him in a flattering light. The way this kid was chugging his drinks, he probably wouldn’t wake up until noon, he thought. Little did he know…

=====  
The next morning, Nico was up almost at sun-rise. He wasn’t pleased to be up so early, but there was a lot to do. First, he stopped at the soldiers’ quarters and gave them some of the papers that Corporal D had signed the night before. Then he used the telephone to make a brief phone call to Central. The remaining papers he tucked under his arm and headed for the inn. He assumed that most of the workers assembled there for breakfast before their long day toiling in the vineyards.

When he arrived there, the assembled workers didn’t seem to be happy to see him, and they certainly didn’t appreciate his cheery “Good morning, everyone.”

One of the workers, who happened to be hefting a rather sharp and gleaming pruning hook (Nico assumed that Bianca had continued the repair work on their tools after he’d left) snarled, “You have some nerve showing your face here!”

“Now, now,” Nico chided, “is that any way to speak to your new landlord?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kahale asked angrily.

“It seems,” Nico replied smoothly, “that for some reason, Corporal Dionysus transferred ownership of all the confiscated properties, as well as this inn, to whoever holds these papers.”

There were gasps and mutters that seemed to take on a threatening tone as Nico brandished the pile of signed documents, but he continued, appearing not to be concerned with the glares he was receiving.

“Unfortunately, I have to be leaving for my next assignment, and with only one real arm,” he drew back his right sleeve to reveal the automail underneath it, “these are just too much for me to be carrying around all the time. Besides, I don’t really have the time or the inclination to be an absentee landlord.”

“Michael Kahale,” he thrust the sheaf at the innkeeper, “you seem to have the room to store these. Why don’t you keep them here? Unless you can think of somewhere else each of these deeds should go.”

The innkeeper was astonished as he took the pile of deeds, but not so astonished that he didn’t start handing the papers to the rightful owners. “Sir,” he said respectfully to Nico, “I don’t know how to repay you.”

“Well, would you consider exchanging the deeds for the cost of my sister’s staying at your inn, and throwing in a few meals?”

Michael Kahale threw back his head and laughed. “Alchemist, you drive a hard bargain.”

The room erupted in a responding laughter, followed by cheers.

The cheers were cut off as the doors flew open to reveal a furious Corporal Dionysus. His eyes were bloodshot, his nose was redder than usual, and he was quivering with rage.

“What are you doing here?” he croaked out furiously. “This is my property now! And you!” He pointed at the vintners. “What are you doing idling about? No wonder you can’t pay your taxes. When my aides get here, I’ll have you shot if you don’t get back to work immediately!”

Nico calmly stepped up to the fuming man. “Actually, I don’t think so. You may have forgotten, but in the course of our friendly game of cards, you signed over all of your holdings to me.” To back up his claim, several of the men held up the deeds, clearly showing the corporal’s signature on them.

Corporal D turned purple. “This is some kind of trick. When my aides get here...where are Lieutenant Castor and Lieutenant Pollux?”

Nico gave him a cold smile. “Oh, they’re on the train back to Central. You also seem to have forgotten signing their reassignment papers. And, by the way, they’re carrying my full report back with them. I gave a brief report by telephone this morning, though, and it seems I’ve received the authority to have you held in custody until tomorrow, when a detachment will be escorting you back to Central.”

“You! You! How do you intend to hold me?” The man was paunchy and looked unwell, but he did have a few inches and quite a few pounds on Nico. He knew he could hold his own, but after restoring this inn to its proper owner, he didn’t want it to be damaged if he had to fight the man.

That didn’t seem to be necessary though, as the corporal found himself surrounded by a ring of vintners, all of whom were carrying very sharp farming implements, and none of whom were strangers to hard work.

=====  
For the rest of the day, the Elrics found themselves constantly being approached by the vineyard workers. Each one seemed eager to show their appreciation. Bianca tried to take it all in stride, but Nico found it difficult to hide his discomfort at the attention until Michael Kahale said to him, “You know, most of us have been living in Youswell and working the vineyards for generations. We were afraid that we were going to lose our homes. I don’t know if you can understand how much that means to us.”

Nico thought about the home that he and Bianca could no longer go back to, and just nodded at the man and his daughter.

When they headed for the train that evening, they were surrounded by a crowd of admiring townspeople, who made sure that they were well provisioned for the rest of their journey.


	4. The Battle on the Train

As they rode the train back to Central, they thought back to their first trip there by train.

=====

“I don’t see why we had to wait until today.” Nico was, as usual, in a bad mood.

“Cheer up, brother. We’re on our way to Central at last, and you’ll be a state alchemist soon.” Bianca tried to cheer her brother up, but she also wondered why Colonel Mustang had told them to postpone their trip. It was only two days, but the Elric siblings were eager to move ahead on their journey to get their normal bodies back. The colonel had made some vague statements about the timing of the exams and making sure that things were in place for them, but Nico didn’t trust him. Still, they were on their way.

As they sat on the train, Nico facing back and Bianca facing forward, he noticed a tiny head peeking over the top of the seats. When he leaned forward to get a better look, the head popped down quickly, but then came slowly back. It belonged to a young girl who stared at the massive suit of black armor with wide, curious eyes.

“Wow,” the little girl said. “You must love armor to be wearing so much of it.”

“Julia,” a voice hissed. “Mind your manners. Don’t disturb the strangers.”

Bianca turned around and looked over the seat to see a stony-faced man glaring at the little girl. The man sat stiffly, and his arms were tucked so close to his sides that Bianca wondered whether he actually had arms.

“Sorry, Uncle Terminus,” the little girl apologized.

“And what are you staring at?” the older man snapped at Bianca, who hastily turned around, muttering apologies.

Unnoticed by the Elrics, a short stocky figure stepped through the door to the next car up on the train. The figure continued along the train until he made his way to the radio car. As he entered the car, the man at the switchboard looked up at him.

“Anything to report, Warrant Officer Hedge?”

“There’s one suspicious character in car 13. All in black armor, a girl by the sound of her voice.”

Maes Beckendorf, seated at the switchboard, laughed. “If she’s traveling with a short boy with a long black braid, you can relax, Hedge. That’s one of ours. Now, get back on patrol; I have to file my report.” 

As the warrant office went back to patrolling the train, Beckendorf placed a call.

“Hey Percy, Beckendorf here,” he said into the receiver. “Just wanted to chat. Did I tell you Silena’s expecting?”

From the receiver, an angry voice rang out. “Only four times today already. How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me just to brag about your wife?”

Beckendorf laughed again. “But wives are assets better than gold. They’re like money in the bank. There’s no better place than a home with a wife in it.” 

He paused a moment to let Colonel Mustang rage at him. Then he went on. “You’re still single, I’ll bet. Maybe I should look for a nice girl for you. You’ll thank me after I introduce you to some of Silena’s friends. You’ll really like them.”

“That’s enough time wasting out of you, Beckendorf! Some of us have work to do!” came Percy’s angry voice just before he slammed the phone down. Beckendorf just leaned back in his chair and smiled.

At headquarters, Lieutenant Annabeth Hawkeye came into Colonel Mustang’s office, drawn by the shouting. She’d been Mustang’s second in command for years, and they’d fought together in so many battles that she had a certain leeway in how she treated her superior, at least when they were in private.

“Colonel, I heard you shouting all the way down the hall. What’s the problem this time?”

Mustang showed none of the anger he had a moment earlier on the phone. On the contrary, his mood was excellent.

“No problem, just getting a message from Beckendorf. He just informed me that our scheme is set to go.”

Hawkeye shook her head and walked out of the office, muttering “Seaweed brains, both of you.” to herself.

What she didn’t know was that Mustang and Beckendorf had long ago worked out this method of communicating when they didn’t trust the security of the phone lines. Everyone knew that Beckendorf doted on his wife and that he teased Mustang about his single status, so he’d start gushing about Silena, and then Percy would complain about it, working a number into the complaint. That number was how many words into each sentence the key words would be placed. In this case, the message was: Assets in place. I’ll look after them.

Hedge got back to car 13 in time to see a commotion. Two men were standing at the front of the car. They were brandishing rifles. One of them said, “No heroes today! Everybody get your hands over your heads...or say hello to a bullet. We’re looking for something on this train. Don’t give us any trouble.”

The second one pointed his gun at Bianca. “You! Out of the armor! Now.”

Bianca looked at Nico. She couldn’t really remove the armor. Her brother sprang up, waving his arms frantically.

“Oh gods, you’re going to kill us!” he shouted, spinning around as if in a panic. Hedge wasn’t too impressed with this agent of Mustang’s if he panicked so easily, but then the boy’s gyrations brought him closer to the first gunman, who tumbled as the boy’s foot caught him. He raised his rifle, but the boy caught it in his hands, which had some sort of chalk markings on them. As the hands closed on the muzzle of the rifle, it twisted into a bow. Nice, so the kid was an alchemist, and a pretty good one to be able to pull off a stunt like that on the fly.

“Stupid move, kid.” The second gunman brought his rifle around, but then crumpled to the floor of the car as the armored girl’s fist fell heavily onto his head.

“Nice work.” Hedge stepped forward. “But those weren’t the only ones on the train. There are more of them at the front.”

“Right,” Nico replied. “Bianca, let’s take care of these clowns. I’ll go high; you go low.”

“Got it, brother,” she replied as he climbed out the window.

Hedge looked at them in surprise. “Who are you cupcakes?”

The hulking figure gave a little shrug. “Just a couple of alchemists.” The girl’s voice echoing from the helmet seemed out of place, but she seemed to know what she was doing, so Hedge went to the window to follow the other character, her brother, she’d said.

Nico walked carefully along the roof of the car, struggling to maintain his balance. He was surprised to see the man who’d spoken to them earlier scrambling nimbly forward like a mountain goat.

“Hey kid, there’s an art to walking on top of a moving train. Stay low, it minimizes wind resistance, and it makes you a smaller target.”

“Thanks,” Nico said, adjusting his stance as they came to the front of car thirteen and prepared to jump to the next car up. “Who are you, and who are you calling a smaller target?”

As if on cue a shot rang out, making them duck down between the cars. “Warrant Officer Gleeson Hedge. I was put on this train to provide some extra security, but they didn’t tell me why. You’re part of Percy Mustang’s team, I take it.”

Nico frowned, not pleased to be called part of Mustang’s ‘team.’ “Not exactly, we’re more free-lancers at this point. Is that gunman still up there?”

Hedge poked his head up for just an instant, and another shot rang out. “I don’t know how we’re going to get past him.”

Nico grinned evilly. “I got this.” Then he pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket and sketched a figure on the side of the car, just below the roof. He put his hand on the figure, and a small cannon formed itself out of the roof. A brief blast from the cannon took care of the gunman, so they were able to continue their way up the train.

Meanwhile, Bianca was making her way to the front of the train. She went from car to car without incident, although some of the passengers gave her frightened looks. She tried to wave at them reassuringly, although her helmet was incapable of a friendly smile. Finally, she opened the door to the first passenger car. A gun was pointed directly at her chest.

“Wait! You don’t want to shoot! The bullet will…” Her statement was cut off by the sound of a gunshot, immediately followed by the pinging sound of the bullet bouncing off the impregnable black iron of her armored chest. “Ricochet,” she finished to the gunman who was now lying on the floor clutching his leg, which was bleeding from the bullet that indeed had ricocheted. 

He had a compatriot who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle which he deployed against Bianca with the same effect, leaving him also bleeding. Fortunately, there was no-one else in that car to suffer the ill effects of these two trigger-happy idiots.

In the next car, she found two of the trainmen tied up and gagged. She hastened to assure them that she was friendly and removed their gags. The first one said, “We’re gonna die! I overheard one of them say they sabotaged the Buford Bridge.”

“The Buford Bridge, what’s that?” Bianca asked.

“It’s the last bridge before the train enters Central. My guess is, they’re going to jump the train when it slows on the curve before the bridge.”

“That’s crazy,” said Bianca. “And some of them aren’t in any condition to jump any more.”

“Crazy is what they are. That’s Lycaon’s gang. He’s a fanatic, and he wants something on this train. We’re all going to die.” The man started to moan softly.

“No we’re not. My brother is taking care of this. We’re going to be fine. I hear someone coming. Be quiet.” She stepped into a shadowed corner of the car and, for all her size, faded from view.

In the communications car, Beckendorf looked up at his two captors. He wished they’d open a window; he wanted to gag at the rank unwashed smell coming off of them. It was like wet dogs.

“Call your boss,” the leader snarled at him. “I’m tired of waiting.” He emphasized the point by jabbing him with the tip of his gun.

Beckendorf recognized the man. It was the notorious terrorist, Lycaon. He did as he was told, and put through the call to Mustang’s office. Percy picked up immediately.

“What is it, Beckendorf?” came the voice through the receiver.

“I’ve got your man at gunpoint, Mustang,” Lycaon snarled. It seemed like snarling was the only way he could speak. “Tell me where it is or I’ll start shooting.”

Percy’s voice came cooly back. “Where what is? And from those dulcet tones, I’m guessing it’s Lycaon.”

“Good guess, Colonel. It’s me. And you know what I want. I know the Parthenos is on this train. You,” he said to Beckendorf, thrusting the receiver at him. “Tell your boss that if he doesn’t come across, I start by shooting you, and then I go after the other passengers.”

Beckendorf pitched his voice high to get a sense of panic across. “It’s a bad situation. It’s like I’m under water. They’ve taken total control of the train. Don’t try to stall them.”

Percy smiled to himself at hearing Beckendorf’s buried message. “Okay, Lycaon. I’ll tell you where it is. It’s in a trunk in the baggage car with the name Athena on it.”

Lycaon barked out a laugh and turned to his man. “I’m going to the baggage car.” He pointed to Beckendorf. “If I don’t come back in five minutes, shoot him. If he tries anything, shoot him. If you get bored, shoot him.” He strode out of the car.

After he left, Beckendorf said, “Nice guy.” 

Apparently, that qualified as ‘trying something.’ The other man brought the muzzle of his gun around to point at Beckendorf. Unfortunately for the gunman, that also brought the gun within Beckendorf’s reach. He was never sure what happened next, but it ended with the burly Major’s fist coming down on his head. He was unconscious after that.

In Mustang’s office, Annabeth Hawkeye was yelling at him yet again. “I can’t believe you told that thug where the Parthenos was! That book is full of top secret alchemic research.”

Mustang gave her a crooked smile. “Relax, Wise Girl. Beckendorf assures me he’s got the situation under control. He just needed me to buy him some time.”

=====  
When they reached the roof of the radio car, Hedge cautiously lowered himself to where he could look into the window. He was pleased to see Beckendorf sitting calmly, his assailant unconscious before him, so Hedge dropped from the roof of the car onto the coupling between the cars and motioned for Nico to follow him.

When they entered the car, Beckendorf greeted them. “I’m Maes Beckendorf, and you must be Nico Elric,” he said with a warm smile. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Colonel Mustang.”

Nico scowled at him, but didn’t say what he was thinking about Percy Mustang at that moment. Instead, he asked, “What’s the situation?”

“Lycaon, the leader of these thugs, is headed for the baggage car. There’s some sensitive materials there that we don’t want him to get a hold of.”

“On it,” Nico said, climbing back out the window before either man could stop him. As he was about to leave the car, Bianca entered.

“Brother, I just heard that they sabotaged the Buford bridge!” she cried, but Nico didn’t stop; he only said, “I’m on a mission, Bianca. You can handle it.”

Beckendorf called out, “Bianca Elric, I presume? Not to worry, I’ll call Mustang. He’s more than capable of taking care of the bridge. I’m Maes Beckendorf. I’m working for Colonel Mustang.”

Hedge was watching this exchange nervously, his head going back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.

“I don’t like sending a kid after a hardened criminal like Lycaon,” he said nervously.

“Brother can take care of himself,” Bianca said, but there was also a touch of nervousness in her voice as well.

Beckendorf just smiled. “I don’t doubt that Nico Elric can take care of himself, Hedge, but follow him at a distance, and don’t let him see that you’re there as backup. I’m going to stay here and let Percy know about the bridge.”

=====

“Lieutenant, how’d you like to take a trip to Buford bridge?” Percy drawled.

Annabeth Hawkeye glared at him with cold grey eyes. “What now? Shouldn’t we be waiting for the train to arrive?”

“Well,” he said with infuriating calm, “I just got word that the bridge was sabotaged. We can get there about 15 minutes before the train goes over it, and I’m counting on your sharp eyes and vast knowledge of architecture to let me know how I can use the river water to reinforce it enough to let the train cross safely.”

Annabeth looked at her commanding officer sharply, but he was right. Using just water to reinforce the supports enough to hold the weight of a train was well nigh impossible, but Percy Mustang was in a class by himself where water alchemy was concerned, and with her architectural knowledge, they were more than equal to the task.

“Come on, Seaweed Brain, we have a train to save,” she said taking his hand and pulling him to the door.

=====

Nico clambered over the top of the train, heading for the rear of the baggage car. He noted the tanker car filled with water behind the baggage car with satisfaction. Entering the car by the rear door (which he’d marked with a chalk circle), he called out, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

Lycaon looked up at the intruder. “Who the hell are you?” he snarled. “You’re just a kid. Nice arm, though.” He pointed at Nico’s black automail arm. “Mine’s better, though.” He lunged at the shorter boy, his sleeve pulling back to reveal gleaming claws.

Nico leapt backward to avoid the raking claws, and reached out to put his hand on the door he’d come through. As he touched the wooden door, he connected with the alchemical circle he’d drawn on the other side and activated it. A nozzle bloomed forth, and a torrent of water knocked the large man back, stunning him.

At that moment, Hedge burst in. “Nice trick with the water, kid. I’ll take it from here.” He produced ropes and tied the stunned Lycaon up. 

Nico grinned at him. “I figured he could use a bath. He smells like a wet dog.”

The imprisoned Lycaon just laughed. “You’re all going to die, anyway.”

“Not today.” That was Beckendorf. “We rounded up your men and took care of your little trick with the bridge. Colonel Mustang will be glad to see you.”

=====  
When they pulled into the station, Percy Mustang was waiting as the imprisoned assailants were led off the train. He eyed Nico and Bianca. “Good work, kids. I hear you pulled a neat trick with the water.”

Lycaon glared at him, rage contorting his features as he lay on the ground, his hands tied behind his back. Abruptly, he sprang up. He’d used his automail claws to cut himself free, and he lunged. 

“Percy Mustang, I’ll kill you with my bare hands!” he cried, spittle flying.

“I don’t think so.” Mustang barely spared him a glance. He just snapped the fingers of his gloved hand, and the spittle from Lycaon’s mouth formed into a tight noose around the enraged man’s neck, choking him into submission.

Percy turned toward Nico. “I also know a few neat tricks with water.” Nico looked more closely at the glove that Mustang wore and saw that it was covered with symbols, only a few of which he recognized.

Nevertheless, he glared at Mustang. “You knew something would happen on that train! That’s why you made us wait until today to come to Central.”

Mustang gave him a lopsided grin. “Don’t be ridiculous, Nico,” he said cooly. “How could I know all that? Still, it’s lucky for you that you were on that train. Fuhrer King Kronos was so impressed with your part in this that he agreed to let you take the State Alchemist’s exam.”

Nico was fuming, “But you let me believe I could take the exam any time I wanted. That’s why I came to Central in the first place.”

Mustang chuckled infuriatingly. “The state’s never let a kid take a military exam before, but I guess it’s a good thing you took that particular train.”

As the colonel strode off, still wearing that infuriating grin, the blonde lieutenant glared. Neither Nico nor Bianca could tell whether she was glaring at them or at her commanding officer.


	5. The Alchemy Exam

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case it's not clear, both this and the previous chapter are flashbacks.

“You’ll be needing a place to stay for until the exam takes place.” Percy Mustang made the statement sound like he was gloating rather than helping them out. Nico glared at him, while Bianca’s metal face of course showed no expression. “I’ve arranged for you to stay with someone who might be able to help you prepare. His name is Quintus Tucker.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Nico exclaimed. “Isn’t he the Sewing Life Alchemist?”

“The first alchemist to make a talking chimera?” Bianca asked excitedly.

“That’s the one,” the colonel replied. He can help you prepare for the exam, and he’s agreed to give you the run of his library. Corporal Beckendorf can take you to his house.”

Beckendorf was his usual chatty self. “Now Nico, Bianca, if you need anything, anything at all, don’t hesitate to call me.”

They didn’t pay him much attention, though. Both of them were excited to meet such a famous alchemist. Even Nico was enthusiastic.

“I can’t wait to see this talking chimera. I want to see all his notes on it,” he said with a surprising eagerness. Bianca was glad to see that side of her brother she hadn’t seen in so long.

They pulled up to an enormous house. “Wow! It’s huge!” Bianca said with a touch of awe.

“Well, that’s one of the perks of being a state alchemist,” Beckendorf said with a chuckle. “It was awarded to his wife’s father back when he was a dog of the military.”

“So he lives in that huge house with just his wife?” Bianca asked.

“Actually, it’s just him and his daughter; his wife is gone. I heard that she moved out to the countryside but I never heard the details.”

Beckendorf helped them take their bags out of the car and went up to the front door to ring the bell, but before he could do so, there was a rustling from the bushes as an enormous creature leaped out and tackled Nico to the ground. Could this be the chimera?

“No, no, Mrs. O’Leary! Bad dog!” a child’s voice called out.

Sure enough, Nico realized, this was just a dog, albeit a huge one. Then the front door opened. A pale, rumpled man with glasses came out. Beckendorf greeted him.

“Mr. Tucker, hello.”

Tucker replied, “Ah, Corporal Beckendorf, I see you’ve brought the Elrics.” He turned to them, his hand extended to help Nico up. “I’m Quintus Tucker. I see you’ve met my son, Icarus.”

Icarus was a small child with an eager face. “Have you come to play with me and Mrs. O’Leary?” He indicated the dog.

Nico was about to say that they didn’t have time to play with dogs, but Bianca, tender-hearted as she was, said, “We can’t play right now, but we promise we will as soon as we can.” The small boy’s face lit up so much that even Nico was charmed.

“Okay,” Icarus said, his eyes drinking the newcomers in. “You can be my new brother and sister! Big sister and little big brother.” Nico bridled at that last bit.

“Now, Icarus, why don’t you take Mrs. O’Leary and play in the courtyard?” The boy nodded and then ran off, Mrs. O’Leary trotting behind him.

Beckendorf made his farewells, once again reminding the Elrics not to be shy about calling him. Tucker led them into the house.

“I’m quite impressed. I’ve never heard of anyone so young taking the exam. I’ll be happy to help in any way I can.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tucker,” Nico said. “To start with, we’d love to see your famous talking chimera.”

But Tucker just shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid you’re too late. It died shortly after it was made.” He saw their disappointment, so he went on. “Now studying for your exam comes first. Let me show you my library.”

He led them through a doorway, and they gasped in amazement.

“I’ve never seen so many alchemy books in one place!” Bianca exclaimed.

Tucker chuckled at her. “This is just a small sample of what you’ll have access to if you become state alchemists. A lot of these came from my wife, but you’re welcome to look through any of them.”

“Brother, I can’t wait to get started!” Bianca called out, but hearing no reply, she looked around for Nico. Then she saw him in the corner, surrounded by a stack of books he’d already taken from the shelves, his eyes flicking across the pages, eagerly drinking in the knowledge. “I guess he’s already started,” she thought to herself with a laugh.

That night at dinner, little Icarus sat across from Bianca, chatting happily with his new ‘big sister’ eagerly telling her of the make believe adventures he’d had with Mrs. O’Leary that day. He stopped mid-sentence and scolded her.

“No, no, big sister. You have to eat. You have to keep your strength so you can wear your metal suit.”

Bianca laughed at her new little friend and then said, “Okay.” She lifted her helmet slightly and slipped a roll into her armor. “Mmm, delicious,” she said, acting as if she’d eaten it. She’d give it to Nico later as a late night snack. She couldn’t help seeing the sad look on her brother’s face, knowing that he felt bad that she was no longer able to eat.

She caught sight of Tucker looking at her as she pantomimed eating, but he just smiled at her and her brother. “You two are certainly working hard,” he said. “I think you’ll be ready for the exam.”

“It’s so kind of you to take us in, Mr. Tucker,” she said.

“It’s my pleasure. It’s just been Icarus and me by ourselves for so long.” His face got a peculiar look. “I like having other alchemists around. You know, my wife, Perdita, was quite the alchemist herself. Almost as good as I was.”

=====

In the following days, the two young alchemists threw themselves into studying, wanting to take as much advantage of the well stocked library as they could in the time before their examination. Nico, in particular, was absorbed in scanning the volumes, devouring the most complex of the tomes, unaware of the passing of hours or even days. He sat hunched over the books for so long that his back ached. He rose from the table, stretching stiffly.

“Bianca, I’m beat.” He heard no response, so he looked around for his sister. Suddenly he heard Icarus’ voice coming from outside the window. The child was shrieking with laughter. Then he heard the familiar clanking sound that Bianca made when she moved. He looked outside to see what was going on.

Nico was surprised to see that it had snowed. Then he reminded himself that it was January, so snow was to be expected. What was not expected was that Bianca was lying on her back, making an enormous snow angel while Icarus cheered her on. Suddenly, Nico’s weariness was gone. Sure, he had to prepare for the alchemy exam, but he wanted to play in the snow. When was the last time he and his sister had done that?

He flung the window open and launched himself out into the snow covered courtyard.

“Hooray!” Icarus shouted. “Little big brother has come to play with us.”

Nico didn’t lie down to make a snow angel. Who knew what Will would say if he got the workings of his automail clogged up with snow? Instead, he reached down and took a handful of snow and shaped it into a snowball. He pitched the white missile at his sister. 

Bianca cried out indignantly, even though the snowball missed her completely. Then she grabbed her own handful of snow and retaliated. It struck Nico squarely in the chest. It wasn’t fair, her aim was always so much better than his.

“Rowrf!” Mrs. O’Leary’s familiar cry rang out as she bounded toward them, eager to join in the fun. This time Nico knew what was coming so he jumped out of the way to avoid being tackled by the enormous dog. The next thing he knew, Icarus had gotten up on the dog’s back and was riding her around the yard like a pony, while Nico chased after, his metal hand transmuted into a very silly looking dragon head as he emitted rather unconvincing roars. It was good to put aside their studies for a short while and romp around like the kids they still were.

The game came to a halt when Icarus tumbled off the dog’s back. He was unhurt, but he looked sad.

“I wish you could stay here after you take your test. It gets so lonely with just Mrs. O’Leary to play with.” Icarus’s voice trembled.

Nico looked at the boy and then picked up a stick. He used the stick to mark a transmutation circle in the snow.

“What are you drawing?” Icarus asked curiously.

“It’s a transmutation circle. If I have a wish, it helps it to come true. Now watch this.” He reached down and touched the edge of the circle with his palms.

“Ooh! Magic flowers from a magic circle,” crowed Icarus. Sure enough a ring of asphodel sprung up inside the circle.

“Nice work,” a familiar voice said.

“Corporal Beckendorf, what are you doing here?” Bianca asked.

“I’ve come for you, Nico. We can’t have you studying on your birthday.”

“That’s right,” Bianca said in surprise. “That’s today. How did you know that?”

“I’m the information officer. What kind of information officer would I be if I didn’t know that?” Then he noticed Icarus pouting.

“Don’t look sad,” he said to the child. “You’re all invited. How can we have a birthday dinner without Nico’s friends?”

=====

“I’ve been looking forward to meeting you all.” The woman beamed at them.

“Nico, Bianca, Icarus, may I introduce my lovely wife, Silena?”

Icarus, with the guilelessness of a child said, “You’re so pretty.” Then he went on, “but your belly’s so big.”

Silena wasn’t fazed. “That’s because I’m going to have a baby soon.” Icarus was fascinated, although both Nico and Bianca were a little put off by Silena’s frankness about her pregnancy.

A few minutes into the lavish birthday dinner, though, they were all chatting like old friends. Both Silena and Corporal Beckendorf were such warm, friendly people that they were all put at ease.

“I’ll just get more tea,” Silena said, but as she started to rise from the table, she sank back down, looking pale.

Beckendorf looked at his wife with alarm. “Silena, dearest, what’s wrong?” he asked, panic in his voice.

“It’s the baby. It’s coming,” Silena gasped out.

“But, but, the doctor said it wasn’t due for another week.”

There was an edge in her voice as she gasped out, “But the baby said she’s coming now, and I think she gets to decide.”

That galvanized Beckendorf into action. He sprang up, shouting “I’ll get the doctor. Nico, Bianca, look after her while I’m gone!” Then he ran out into the snow.

“What do we do? What do we do?” Nico asked in a panic.

Silena lay down on the sofa and said in a tense voice, “Nico, get a basin of hot water. Bianca, there are some towels in the hall closet.”

After some panicked running in circles, Nico went into the kitchen and found a wash tub which he filled with water. Bianca went down the hall in search of towels. By the time they came back, Icarus was looking out the window eagerly. Apparently he’d be put on sentry duty to watch for the return of Corporal Beckendorf and the doctor.

Bianca put the towels on the floor, and Nico put the tub next to them. By now, Silena was looking very pale. She was moaning quietly, which made Nico pace the floor nervously.

“The snow’s coming down really hard,” icarus said in a frightened voice.

Silena let out a cry as a contraction hit. This increased Nico’s anxiety.

“Alchemy is the most powerful science known to man. But there’s nothing we can do to help.” He clasped his hands together in frustration.

Icarus had left his post at the window. “Little big brother,” the water’s all cold,” he said.

Nico unclasped his hands to reach for the wash tub, but when he touched it, steam rose up from the surface of the water.

“Brother,” Bianca called out.”How did you do that!” There was a touch of awe in her voice. “You did alchemy without a circle. Just like Teacher.”

“I don’t know,” said Nico, although he had a brief mental picture of that awful Gate.

Just then, the door burst open. Corporal Beckendorf came bounding in, followed by a paunchy man with a bad complexion.

“I’ve brought Dr. Papadopoulos,” the corporal said with pride.

The doctor looked at the youngsters. “You three might want to leave the room.” Then his eyes fell on the basin of steaming water, and he smiled. “Good, just what we need.”

Silena chose that moment to cry out in pain, and the youngsters decided to take the doctor’s advice and ran out of the room in terror.

They huddled in the next room shivering each time Silena cried out in pain. They heard her give out one last long drawn out shout, and then there was silence. The silence only lasted a moment, but it seemed to stretch on forever, until it was broken by another cry. It was the wail of an infant.

“Kids, come in here,” Corporal Beckendorf called out. “There’s someone we want you to meet.”

They came back into the room, not sure what to expect, but all three of them looked with relief to see Silena, looking pale but smiling broadly as she held a tiny infant in her arms.

“Nico, Bianca, Icarus, meet our daughter, Drew,” she said, a look of pride on her face.

=====  
The following days consisted of long hours in the library, punctuated by romps in the courtyard with Icarus and Mrs. O’Leary. The day of the exam was drawing closer, and they could feel the pressure of it. The night before the exam, they sat at the supper table, and Quintus described the exam.

“First is the written part. If you pass that, the interview is next.”

“What’s the interview like?” Nico asked.

“That varies. Sometimes it’s just a few questions. Other times it can go on for an hour. Frequently it includes a physical exam.”

Nico and Bianca looked at each other nervously. Bianca couldn’t be examined. What would the military do if they discovered that there was no body inside her armor?

Quintus continued, “The final part is the practical exam. You can bring in a sample of your work, like I did, or you can perform a feat of alchemy on the spot.”

=====

When the siblings emerged from the exam hall the next day, they were greeted by a pleasant surprise.

“Corporal Beckendorf, what are you doing here?” Bianca asked.

“Someone asked me to bring him here so that he could wish you luck.”

With that, Icarus came running up, calling out, “Little big brother, big sister! How was your test!”

Nico’s shoulders sagged. “I barely finished it.”

Bianca nodded. “I’m exhausted.”

“That’s okay,” Icarus said enthusiastically. “We brought you sandwiches. Come have a picnic.”

They were in the midst of their meal when an unwelcome visitor interrupted them.

“Do mind if I borrow these two? It will only take a moment,” Percy Mustang asked smoothly.

=====

“But I can’t back out now,” Bianca protested. “We’ve been working so hard.”

“I’m sorry, but I know that they’ll want to do a full physical exam during the interview,” Mustang said. “Do you want them to find out that you don’t have a physical body? You won’t become a state alchemist; you’ll become a subject for their experiments.”

Nico tried to console his sister. “Besides, Bianca, remember what Granny Naomi said, You’d be a dog of the military, doing everything they say. What if they order you to kill someone? It’s bad enough for me to go through it. You’re too kind-hearted.”

“Hmph!” There was a clanging noise as Bianca crossed her arms. “Okay brother, but you’d better pass this test for both our sakes.”

=====

Nico faced the unsmiling panel. Mustang was there, nothing on his face revealing the conversation they’d just had. One of the panelists spoke to him.

“So why do you want to become a state alchemist.”

Nico scowled at them and then gave his reply.

“Because, I made a promise to the only living family I had. I promised that I’d become a state alchemist, that I’d take the good and the bad.”

=====

As Nico prepared to enter the arena for the practical exam, Icarus called out. “Wait, little big brother! I made something for you.” He pressed a sheet of paper into Nico’s hand.

Nico opened the paper and saw crudely drawn figures. He recognized Bianca’s helmet on the first figure. There was a small figure in the middle, probably Icarus, since the other one seemed to have a long black braid like Nico’s. (“Did he have to make me so short?” he thought.) There was a poorly drawn circle at the top of the page.

“I made a magic circle like you did so your wish will come true,” Icarus said proudly.

Nico smiled at the boy. “Well, with this, how can I fail.”

Bianca laughed and gave Icarus a little hug as Nico strode into the arena.

His confidence dropped, however, as he looked first at the panel of judges and then at the other two finalists. He realized that he had no idea what he was going to do to demonstrate his alchemic skills.

No time for that as the same panelist who’d questioned him before called out, “Let the first candidate begin.”

A tall man dropped to his knees and sketched a circle on the ground. He put his hands onto the circle, and a stone tower rose from the ground, quickly getting taller and taller until it was about twenty feet high. It was a fairly impressive show, but the tower wasn’t very well proportioned, being rather crooked and too narrow to be entirely stable. Also, the power required to create the tower had left the candidate so drained that he could barely stand up again.

The second candidate snorted at that. “If one transmutation wears him out so much, he’s hardly fit for the job.” 

Then she sketched her own circle. Into it, she placed some wooden planks and a bucket of water. When she placed her palms onto the edge of her circle, a large, brightly colored balloon appeared and rose into the sky.

“Wood into a paper balloon filled with hydrogen from the water,” Nico thought. That will be tough to top. 

Abruptly, a gust of wind blew the balloon into the tower, causing it to collapse. The first alchemist, still dazed from the effort of creating the tower, was in the path of the falling debris. Nico, a vision of the Gate in his head, clapped his hands together and then pointed his palms at the rubble, which transmuted into dandelion fluff and corn silk.

“Transmutation without a circle,” he heard Colonel Mustang mutter in astonishment.

“Ladies, gentlemen,” the head of the panel said, “I think we’ve found our alchemist, the youngest we’ve ever had.”

Then he turned to Nico and handed him a leather cord with some decorated beads on it. “This cord proves that you are a state alchemist with all duties and privileges. This bead,” he indicated the largest one, marked with the letters FE in black, “is your official title. From this day, you shall be known as the Stygian Iron Alchemist.”


	6. The Alchemist's Suffering

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this got away from me for a while. I'll try to be more prompt with future updates.

Their first missions were successful, and they were returning to Central in a certain triumph, Nico thought as the train pulled into the station. They’d stopped a power-hungry priest from raising an army of fanatics, and they’d uncovered and put a halt to government corruption in an area vital to the economic health of Amestris. Not bad for a state alchemist who’d just passed the exam. Maybe now Colonel Mustang would show him a little respect.

Bianca was more looking forward to seeing Icarus Tucker. She knew that the little kid got lonely with no-one to play with, and in the time they’d spent at the Tucker house, she’d become fond of him. She also knew that Nico felt the same way (even though he’d never admit it).

When they got off the train, a soldier stopped them. “I’m Lieutenant Cecil Havoc. The Colonel asked me to take you to the Tucker estate.

‘Too busy to talk to his latest heroes, huh?” Nico said, frowning.

Havoc was not put off by this as he led them to the waiting car. “Actually, he is.” He paused until they were in the car and the doors were closed. Then he continued, “There’s a serial killer on the loose around HQ, and Mustang would prefer not to risk his newest assets.”

“That’s fine with me,” Nico said. “Now that we have a little free time, I was hoping to speak to Tucker and find out more about his talking chimera.”

“Me too,” Bianca added eagerly.

Havoc’s face fell. “You know that was how he passed his state certification.” Nico and Bianca both nodded. “Well, what the general public never heard was the only thing the creature said. It was ‘I want to die.’ Then the poor thing broke loose and jumped off a cliff. It fell into the sea and drowned. Let me tell you, the top brass wasn’t too happy about that. The only reason they let him keep the house was that it belonged to his wife’s father, and when the old guy died, Tucker’s wife was next in line for it if she got her state license.”

“Yeah, I heard that she left town, though,” Nico put in.

“Well, it was right before the day of the exam. I guess she couldn’t take the stress, so she went back to her parents’ country place, but no-one’s heard from her since.”

When they got to the house, Icarus ran up to the car to greet them, Mr.s O’Leary bounding up behind. Havoc helped them to get their luggage out of the car and into the house, but then he took Tucker aside and said something to him that made the alchemist frown. Bianca was pulled away by Icarus, who had missed his ‘big sister and big little brother,’ but Nico stayed inside.

“Mr. Tucker, are you alright?” he asked the other man.

“I’m afraid the lieutenant reminded me that I’m up for re-certification soon,” he said with a sigh. “The military hasn’t been quite satisfied with the work I’ve been turning in.” He scowled. “I’m worried that I’ll lose my certification, and if I do, they’ll take the house away from me. I can’t go back to living in poverty.”

He walked slowly into the library, and Nico followed, but the older man raised a hand. “I’m really sorry, but I must get back to my work,” he said to Nico in a tone that suggested a curt dismissal. Nico nodded and walked out of the library, but not before taking note of the books that were out on the table. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was something about the older man’s manner that made him want to find out what he was up to.

Later that day (after some strenuous romping in the courtyard with Icarus and Mrs. O’Leary, Nico, seeing that Quinus had left the library, announced that he needed a break. Bianca was happy to continue the play, so Nico quietly went into the vast collection of tomes to continue his investigation. However, he was so intent on the older alchemist’s research that he didn’t realize what the man himself was doing at that very moment.

Having heard the sound of both Elrics playing in the courtyard with his son, Quintus had snuck into the Elric’s room and stealthily opened Nico’s own notebooks. He looked at the arrays that Nico had sketched and his eyes widened. Alright, the brat was a genius. Some of the finer points were beyond his comprehension, but Quintus was gifted enough in his own right to understand enough. He hurriedly copied some of the arrays from the notebook and put it back in its place. Then headed back to his own study.

This was it! He’d solved the problem. When he published his research, he’d have to change some of the details so that Elric wouldn’t realize what he’d stolen, but this would enable him to keep his certification permanently. He drew up some notes and then placed a call.

“I need to speak to the general immediately. In a meeting?! Never mind. Just tell him to come to my house tomorrow night. I think he’ll be pleased with what he finds.”

=====

The next morning, Nico decided that he needed to access some items not found in Quintus’ personal collection..

“I’ll be going to the Central library today.”

“I’m coming with you, brother,” Bianca said. Then she leaned toward him and added quietly, “I’ve been a little behind in my research.”

Icarus frowned at that, but brightened immediately when his father said, “How would you and Mrs. O’Leary like to play with daddy today?” The child practically vibrated with excitement.

=====

“I’m sorry, but you don’t have the clearance to see those materials.”

Nico glared at the librarian, but the red-headed woman wouldn’t budge even when he pulled out the beaded necklace to show that he was a certified state alchemist.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized again, “but you need General Atlas’ signature before I can give you what you asked for.”

“Who the hell is General Atlas?” Nico said through gritted teeth.

“He’s got oversight of all the Sewing Life Alchemist’s papers.”

Nico felt Bianca’s hand on his shoulder. “Brother, calm down. I’m sure we can just ask him about it when we get back.” Thank the gods for Bianca. She was always more level headed.

The Elrics went back to their researches, Nico still feeling unsatisfied. After a few hours, they exited the library, preparing to walk back to the Tucker estate, but Cecil Havoc was waiting for them. How did he know they were there?

“I’ll be happy to give you a lift. Colonel Mustang asked me to keep an eye out for you. There have been some unsavory characters around lately.”

=====  
When Havoc dropped them off at the estate, Quintus Tucker was waiting at the gate for them. He seemed more excited than they’d ever seen him before.

“Ah, Elrics, you’re just in time. I have something to show you, something wonderful.” He led them toward his laboratory. “I’ve really done it this time!”

“What is it, Mr. Tucker?” Bianca asked, catching a bit of the man’s enthusiasm.

“I’ve succeeded! Look.” He gestured at the corner.

There it was. The creature was enormous. It was some kind of quadruped, but nothing either Nico or Bianca had ever seen before, obviously some kind of chimera. It was furry and had floppy ears, but the eyes were the strangest thing. The creature’s face was mostly immobile, but the eyes were disturbingly intelligent.

“Watch this.” Tucker approached the chimera. “This is Nico,” he gestured, “and this is Bianca. They are friends. Say hello to them.”

“Hel-lo friend Nee-ko. Hel-lo friend Bee-an-kaaa.” The creature’s voice was an eerie bleat. But it was a voice, nevertheless.

“That’s amazing. It’s perfect,” Bianca said, a little awe in her voice.

Nico, however, didn’t seem so impressed. He kept his face blank as he turned to Tucker and said in a flat voice, “Very good, but I do have a few questions.”

“Of course, of course,” the older alchemist replied.

“Mr. Tucker, when was it that you got your license, when you made the first talking chimera?” 

“That was two years ago.”

“And when did your wife leave?”

“That was also two years ago.” He frowned, but any further reply was cut short as Bianca bent down to stroke the chimera’s head, and the creature spoke again.

“Friendz. Bee-an-ka. Big sis-ter.” Then it turned to look at Nico. “Lit-tle big bruz-zer.”

Nico’s eyes were blazing but his voice was still flat. “One more question. Where are Icarus and Mrs. O’Leary?”

The room seemed to grow cold. Tucker’s reply was brief. “I hate perceptive brats like you.”

Nico reached up and grabbed Tucker by the throat, pinning him to the wall. “You scum!” he roared. “How could you? Two years ago it was your wife!! This time you made a chimera out of your own daughter and a dog!”

Tucker smiled at him. Nico hated that smile. Then the older man replied smoothly, “I don’t see what you’re so upset about. The progress of human knowledge is the result of experimenting on humans. As a scientist, you should be the first to…”

“SHUT UP!” Nico shouted. “Do you think you’re going to get away with playing around with people’s lives?”

Tucker laughed at him. The bastard laughed. “People’s lives? Playing? You mean like your arm? Your leg? Your sister’s entire body?”

It was too much. Nico slammed his left fist into the other man’s jaw. It didn’t stop the man from continuing.

“You’re no different than I am . You thought you could do it, so you did. You couldn’t help but try, even if it was forbidden. In fact, it was the forbidden texts in your notes that showed me how…”

He broke off as Nico slammed his fist into his face, but this time it was his right arm, the auto-mail drawing blood as it impacted the other’s jaw. “No! You monster! I’m nothing like you!” Nico drew back to strike again, but Bianca seized his arm.

“Brother, stop,” she cried. “If you don’t stop, you’ll kill him.”

Tucker continued to laugh, a soulless burbling laugh. “Pretty words won’t get anything done, young lady.”

Bianca wheeled around and looked down at the man on the floor, anger blazing in her eyes now.

“Mr. Tucker,” she said, “if you say one more word, this time I’ll be the one to snap.”

Then she turned and stroked the head of the creature that had been her little friend, Icarus. “I’m sorry. We don’t have the skill to turn you normal.”

The creature looked up at her as if unable to understand her. In its broken voice it said “Big sis-ter. Lit-tle big bruz-zer. Can we play now?”

It was too much. Nico emitted an anguished cry and ran from the room. Bianca followed him. Nico didn’t stop until he’d come out the front door of the manor. When Bianca caught up to him, her brother had sat down on the steps and had his head bent down. He was softly crying. Bianca sat down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. Around them, a light rain was falling.

“If there ever truly was ‘the work of the devil,’ this was it,” he said, his voice hoarse.

A new voice said, “the devil’s work?” All state alchemists are nothing but the military’s human weapons. We do what they want. We obey their orders, and we don’t complain if our hands get dirty in the process.”

Nico looked up. It was the Colonel. When had Percy Mustang gotten there? Somehow, the rain falling about the colonel looked right; it made him look good.

“My point is that Tucker’s actions aren’t so different from our own,” Mustang continued.

“With all due respect, sir,” the woman behind him, Annabeth Hawkeye said, “that’s the logic of an adult. Even though Nico acts older than his years, he’s still a child.”

“Yes,” Mustang replied, but the path he’s chosen will lead to even greater hardships. He has to move forward on it. He can’t be held back by something so small. Isn’t that right, Stygian Alchemist?”

“So small?” Nico asked. “You’re right, people think of us as gods or monsters, but we’re neither one. We’re humans. We can’t even save one little boy. We’re just humans, just pathetic humans.” His shoulders shook as he spoke. Then he grew still as he said, almost in a whisper, “But we will get our bodies back.”

“Either way,” Mustang told him, “we need to leave. Now. General Atlas is on his way here, and we don’t want to be here when he arrives.” 

The Elrics followed the Colonel and his aide to their car without a word, and they drove off.

A few moments later, another car pulled up. Two figures emerged, both in military garb. The first looked at the elaborate entryway and frowned.

“So ostentatious,” he said in a scornful voice. There was an odd accent to his voice, making the sibiliants more like a z sound than an s.

“That’s enough, Thorn,” the second man gestured to his aide to be silent. He looked up at what had provoked the other’s distaste. It was an immense globe over the doorway, solid marble and was six feet wide. Both of them turned as they heard footsteps. A hooded figure approached. The aide stepped in front of him.

“Who are you? This area is off limits to civilians.”

The stranger stepped forward and said, “You cannot stop my holy mission.”

He placed a single hand on Thorn’s chest. Thorn collapsed, blood pouring from his mouth.

The second military man didn’t flinch. “You dare to face me? I am General Atlas of the Amestrian military.”

“General Atlas?” the stranger said. “Divine justice will be served to you as well.”

The general raised his fist to the stranger, revealing a gauntlet with an alchemical circle on it. The circle began to glow, but the stranger leapt backward with amazing speed, his hand touching the doorway. As he did so, his hood fell back to reveal a face marked with an x-shaped scar.

“You!” the general shouted, evidently recognizing the man. That was all he said. There was a loud crack as the doorway shattered where the stranger had touched it. The general looked up to see the immense globe dropping down. He raised his arms as if he could catch it, but the weight of 10 tons of marble crushed him. The stranger stepped through the ruined doorway.

Inside the library, Tucker looked up in surprise at the sound of the crash from outside. He saw the scarred man standing before him. The man spoke to him.

“You are Quintus Tucker?” he asked.

“Who are you? Did General Atlas send you? No, you’re not from the military.”

He shrank back in fear, but the man reached for him, saying, “Alchemists who have strayed from the path of the gods must die.”

The stranger put his hand over Tucker’s face. Tucker froze like a statue. For a moment it seemed like his body had turned transparent. Then he collapsed, dead.

The creature that had been his son padded over and sniffed the body. “Dad-dy. Dad-dy hurt.” Its voice was filled with sadness.

The stranger looked down, his scarred face full of sadness. “You poor thing. Through his godlessness, he’s done this to you, and there’s no way to change you back. Oh gods, hear me. I return this soul to you. Grant him forgiveness.”

Then he reached out and touched the creature’s back. It fell to the ground. Then the stranger walked out into the rain.


End file.
